


Boxes and Rumours

by orphan_account



Series: A Perfect Timeline [2]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, F/F, Jefferson is death, Kidnapping, Max needs to figure out a lot of things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After Rachel manages to steal a box of photographs from Max's room, our Timetravler has to get it back to make sure no one finds out about the connection between her and Jefferson, so, too lazy to find out at which time Rachel stole the box, Max decides to steal it back. It does not go as planned.
Relationships: Future-Rachel Amber/Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price, Rachel Amber/Chloe Price
Series: A Perfect Timeline [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667797
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	Boxes and Rumours

If someone would see Max right now, standing in front of Rachel's room in the middle of the night, they would probably think she was a stalker. If people knew all the things Max has done to feed her curiosity in the other Timelines, they would call her a stalker for sure. So really, what Max was going to do now was tame compared to, let's say, breaking into a hidden room inside a barn or breaking into her teacher's house. After all, it can't be called breaking in if the door isn't locked, since Rachel Amber never locks her door, even if she leaves to spend an evening over at Chloe’s house.

Max just needed her photos back, she didn't know when Rachel took them, and she was too lazy to rewind to random points in the last week to stop her. The photos were hidden in a tiny box in her room, a few photos from her and Chloe's childhood, along with photos taken in preparation for her plan to stop Jefferson, proof of the things he had done in case something went wrong, but also some photos she kept private, Chloe’s truck, the lighthouse, the junkyard, photos that meant a lot to her in one way or another. The box was locked, and Max knew the key was still in her room, so she now only had to hope that Rachel didn't force it open, because then, she had to rewind, and Max already was tired enough from the day. (Doing group work in class wouldn’t be so hard if Warren would just stop trying to befriend her, being so nice to her. Something about the way he tried too hard hurts her, maybe it was guilt, or maybe she just wanted to hurt herself by forcing herself to be alone in this Timeline, she didn’t know)

Looking around the corridor one last time, Max gently opened the door and stepped into the room. The future model's room was clean, organized, girly. How Rachel could stand to sleep at Chloe’s house when the punks room is none of these things, amazed Max. Though there is a bit of truth in the words that opposites attract each other. Setting these thoughts aside Max started to search for her box, under the bed, in the closet, under the desk that was full of homework that still has to be done and everywhere else where the box could fit, yet Max couldn’t find anything. Max started to get irritated, where was the box? When she heard the sound of Chloe’s voice and steps coming towards the door, she got even more irritated. Max decided to accept her fate for now and confront Rachel about the box, she wasn’t prepared to face Chloe (she never would be), but she needed the box back.

The door swung open and the two girls became silent quickly as they caught sight of an angry, irritated Max, standing in the middle of a room that was now no longer organized or clean. Neither of them had the opportunity to say anything since Max saw the box in Chloe’s hands and did not waste a second to take it. Leaving however wouldn’t be so easy since the two girls quickly closed the door behind them, Chloe staying in front of it, while Rachel started to clean the mess Max had created. She really considered rewinding now but decided to play along, for now.

It was silent, Rachel was still cleaning, Max standing in the middle of the room, not bothering to move, looking at her to avoid the glare Chloe was sending towards her while blocking the door, for the first time in a very long time, Max was too nervous to talk. A part of her personality she thought she had lost over the many Timeline she had lived through, she couldn’t say she missed that part of her.  
After an Eternity, which probably was just 10 minutes, Rachel was done cleaning her room and sat down on her bed, looking first at Max and then Chloe before sighing: “Alright, I’m done with this tension-filled silence, what are you doing in my room, Maxine?”. Max looked into the eyes of the other girl: “First, it’s Max, never Maxine”, a small groan could be heard from Chloe, “and secondly:”, she made a point of holding the box towards Rachel, “I wanted my box back!”.

“Wait, what?”, Rachel seemed to flinch when she heard Chloe’s voice: “You told me that this was your's Rachel! You told me you lost the key! Why would you steal a box from Max of all people and ask me to open it?”, the girl was angry, and Max knew that if Chloe would get any louder the other girls would wake up in their dorms. Max felt panic go through her, the last person she wanted to see these photos was Chloe, with Davis heavily involved in the death of Jefferson it wouldn’t take much for her to piece together that the last victim of Jefferson was Max and she didn’t need Chloe to know. She promised Chloe once she wouldn’t get herself hurt for Chloe’s happiness, and even if Chloe didn’t remember that promise, the guilt in Max for breaking it was still there and would increase if Chloe felt back for her.

“Did you look inside?”, her voice sounded panicked as well. Both of them looked at her now, Rachel with some guilt in her eyes, while Chloe was just pissed. “We didn’t even open it yet, Chloe took some tools from David and then we wanted to open it here”, Rachel said these words so quickly that Max only heard half of it, but it was enough for her to relax. “Why?”, she needed to know before she rewinded all this. “...There were rumours about you... And… I just… David talks to you so often and…. I heard the girl had evidence for the police so I thought that it was you, that the rumours were true, so I thought that maybe you still had some of them, the evidence I mean, and then I found the box in your room, I wanted to know if the rumours are true”, Max knew what Rachel was talking about, some people did theorize about who the last girl was that Jefferson kidnapped. The police kept her name and face out of the media, the only things the public knew was that a student had given a tip to the police with photos of evidence and that the same student was the one Jefferson targeted last, as well that David was involved in saving the student. It also explained why she caught Rachel two weeks ago in her room, she was searching back then too. (And the photo of the barn was probably an even bigger hint that the rumours are true)

Max had to make a decision, either deny the truth or telling them the truth, Max had all the time in the world to see this play out till the end. So, with a sigh, she said: “It’s true”. Rachel had no words, she simply stared shocked at Max. Chloe however, seemed to lost: “What are you even talking about, what is true?”. Max really didn’t want to say it, it felt like it would seal something, which was ridiculous since she could simply make all this undone at any time. She sighed again, sorry Chloe, I just wanted you to be happy.

“I was the girl Jefferson kidnapped, the one David saved”

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, finally I write again, I think I will try to concentrate on this series a little, maybe I will switch between writing for this series, writing something else, writing for this series, writing something else etc.
> 
> Funny enough I know how I want the ending to be but it's getting there I have to figure out.
> 
> So yes I will make it in chronological order, but there will be small-time jumps between the stories since I just want to explore this Timeline/Max I have created.


End file.
